Notes / Commercial Description:
Old Foghorn® is brewed based on historic English barleywine methods. It is highly hopped, fermented with a true top-fermenting ale yeast, carbonated by a natural process called "bunging" to produce champagne-like bubbles, and dry-hopped with additional Cascade hops while it ages in our cellars. Made only from “first wort,” the rich first runnings of an all-malt mash, three mashes are required to produce just one barleywine brew.

Reviews by BeerResearcher:

Poured from a cute little 7oz bottle.
Nice amber/brown with a thin off-white head and just a touch of lace. The fragrant aroma of sweet malt, pear brandy, and hops is quite potent at first, but fades to a faint rummy fuminess. The caramel sweet malt body is fairly substantial. Candy sugar, prunes and toffee mingle with a mild lemony citrus bitterness. A peppery spiciness offers a bit of an edge to an otherwise rounded and mellow brew. The warming alcohol remains throughout, though sort of, in the background. Mellows and sweetens as it ages.

More User Reviews:

2015 vintage, 12 oz bottle. My original entry into the limited but heavenly world of barleywines, about 20 years ago. I had been a little disappointed with the past couple of years but this year's seems back as good as ever. Sweet, malty, syrupy, raisins, esters, dates, blah blah. Now let's get useful: compared to Bigfoot? Much more syrupy, less hoppy. Old Stock Ale? 25% denser, less bite. When you buy it, do you get a sissy 4-pack? No. You get a full 6-pack. Should you buy it? If you "get" barleywines, yes. You'll like it, maybe love it. If you've never had a dark English, German dopplebock, or a sweet, dark Belgian, don't waste your money. It's best left on the shelf for me to buy later...I would appreciate being able to buy this year-round.

I'm not sure if it was the 14 years this beer was cellared or if this is just the best barley wine I've ever had. This beer had zero hop presence and had the sweetest rasen,cherry, and apple flavors. I must get more to cellar for years.

12oz bottle poured into a stone glass.Smell is pairs plums apples.Taste is apple`s & Pairs.I like this.It has a really good tasted to it plus the fact that it`s got a pretty good kick to.ABV9.4.I would buy this again.Give it a try.

It has a beautiful golden-mango glow to start, with 1 finger of steady head, sticking around for quite some time. As it settles in the head becomes moss and the body turns to a crumpled raisin color. Impressive display. 70% opaque.

Flavor starts off with a stinging snake bite of alcohol burn, but tapers off quickly to a total tropical assault : dried mangoes, papaya, guava, pineapple; fading into a dry hopped utopia with dark malts and bright fruits.

The feel is heavy, thick without being sappy, and provides ample carbonation to keep the boat afloat. Finish is dry, dry, dry.

Old Foghorn isn't a beer you just drink; it's a beer you sip and philosophize over. This is one deep, humongous, cavernous beer.

6/5/2015
12oz bottle dated from 11/2014 served in a tulip glass. Already six months old per the bottling date. They say that this beer is kept in their cellars till it is ready. Who knows how long that is.

Appearance: deep ruddy brown with a yellowy tan head and wonderful clarity.

Nose: fruity sweetness, prunes, candy shop caramel

Taste: fresh and fruity, candied apples, pears, beautiful mouthfeel but a bit on the thin side to support extended cellaring. Carbonation enough to lift the flavors off your tongue and to the back of your throat.

Overall: I have been looking for this beer for a while since I got into barleywines. It was a bit pricy: $19 for a six pack. I'm still glad I tried it and that it comes in enough quantity to allow for some aging experiments. See you in a few months.

3/30/2016
Bottle from the same pack as listed above cellared in my basement. Nothing too huge to note in the change. I believe it has thinned out a bit and taken on some sherry and port oxidation notes but nothing that would detract from the overall experience. I don't think this beer has the ABV to last for years in the cellar but at least 2-3 would help it develop more of those micro oxidation flavors English Barleywines are famous for. Rating remains unchanged.

Pours tawny brown color with a few light highlights with a thin lace,aroma is deeply fruity and a little alcoholic.Taste is rich and warming alot of fruity estures with a hint of molassis with an underlying herbal,grassy flavor in the finish.A nice complex brew but whats up with the tiny bottles?

Appearance  Clear, orangish-brown body that produced a big head that left quickly, which is very typical of the style.

Smell  This one has the sweet, malty, alcoholic aroma of a good barley wine. Theres also some hop bitterness there for balance, but mostly the smell announces a sugary substance.

Taste  Yes, theres a big sweetness from this one. The malt is present but clearly in the background. The main thrust of this brew is the sweetness, predominantly alcoholic molasses and brown sugar. There are some dark fruits as well; mostly bloody peaches and plums doused in table sugar, but the molasses and brown sugar are the strongest. Lastly, theres a slight floral hop balance to round this one out.

Mouthfeel  This one is flat and smooth and full-bodied.

Drinkability  This is a great sipping beer. I had this with a charbroiled tenderloin, and it was heaven.

Update  This is one of the first ales that I rated after joining the site in 2003, so I thought it would be fun to re-rate it with a 2004 vintage. I ditto the review from over a year ago. It isnt as hoppy as some American BWs but goes down quite well.

A: Pours a rich mahogany into a medium wine glass. Looks ruby-brownish when held to light. Its thin, 1-finger head dissipates quickly. A thin, sticky lacing clings to the glass as the beer goes down my gullet.

S: Caramel-toffee with a big, roasty malt aroma. Also some black currant, anise, and definitely some brown sugar and cinnamon hints. A very sweet, almost port-like aroma.

T: Sweet barley malarmey! Rich malt sweetness dominates this brew. A very liqueur- like quality with heavy brown sugar accents are present. Definitely a dessert-style sipper. Fruit flavors include raisin and fig. I would really appreciate a little more hop bitterness to balance out the huge malt presence, but the lack of hop flavor certainly doesn't ruin the taste. Just a little booziness is detectable near the end of a sip. Medium carbonation.

M: I really enjoy the feel of this beer. It is really creamy with a medium-heavy sweetness that coats the entire palate. Sticky-icky (in a good way).

D: The sweetness of it leads me to not give it a great rating... I really enjoyed about the first 2/3 of the brew, but the last 1/3 was just a little too sweet and sticky. One and done for me, thank you, and I'll probably enjoy another in a couple of months or so.

S: cant decide if its more caramel or brown sugar, vanilla, white grapes, a hint of pear, alcohol.

T: light, sweet but not cloying, and complex sugar profile. very clean malt bill to support the sugars. butter, vinous, grape like aromas translate easily into similar flavors. dries somewhat during the finish which is a nice balance and ends somewhat fruity, apples, pears, barely tart.

M: honestly a little too light for the style. and at what used to be a 7ounce serving, Anchor shouldnt have been that concerned with thinning the viscosity to make it more drinkable. I would like to see a heavier more, viscous mouthfeel.

D: a damn tasty brew. im curious to see how the switch to 12 oz bottles goes over. ill pick some up myself and see how i feel after 12 instead of the 7 im used too.

I thought this was a great barleywine. I had this on tap at the San Diego Brewing Co. tonight and it was great! The first thing I noticed was the great smell of spices, plum and a slight scent of alchohol. The taste had a good portion of maltiness with a good balance of hoppiness and a good spice/plum flavor. This was a great beer on tap and much better than out of the bottle.

Taste: Sweet taste of roasted malt and dark fruits. Alcohol taste is present, but not overpowering. Slight spiciness in the finish.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation with a smooth, almost creamy mouthfeel.

Overall: Good barleywine that would go down great on a winter night. Complex flavors blend well into an extremely enjoyable brew. This is a beer that you want to stop analyzing and just sit back and enjoy.

Pours a lovely deep cherry color. No head, no lace (although I believe that's normal for this style...). Smell is quite nice, with a bit of raisin and cherry poking through. I really like the taste. There's a little raisin, a little cherry, with a nice maltiness (with a bit of caramel) and some hops. The mouthfeel is pretty full, although it gets a little weaker as the beer warms.

This is only my second barleywine, but I'm really developing a liking for this style (along with old and strong ales). This is a nice little beer (that comes in a cute little bottle) to sip on a bitterly cold winter's eve. (Although 7 ounces isn't enough...)

Old Foghorn pours from the 12oz bottle into my tulip glass a deep dark reddish brown with a nice creamy khaki head atop. Spotty lacing forms all over the side of the glass as garnet hues shine out when I hold it up to the light. Aroma is rich, sweet caramelly malt, dark fruits, cherries and brown sugar. There's a really nice herbal, green, slightly citric hoppiness throughout. Quite nice.

First sip brings a rich, fruity, caramelly maltiness with hints of cherry, molasses and burnt sugars. This is followed by a nice wave of herbal hoppiness, a touch citrusy, that brings a nice flow of bitterness to the back of the palate. This is a tasty barleywine and I'm glad to see it coming in full 12oz bottles now. Quite refined with a nice malt/hop balance and bold flavor.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with good steady carbonation. A decent bit lighter in body that many other barleywines...but it serves to make it all the more drinkable. I could see sitting down to a few bottles of this with no problem at all. My fiance also enjoyed this with me as she has been getting into barleywines! Definetly a brew that everyone should try at least once.